Sir Alexander Macdonald, 7th Baronet

Sir Alexander Macdonald, 7th Baronet, 14th Chief of Sleat was a Scottish Chief of Clan Macdonald of Sleat.

Early life

Macdonald was born in 1711. He was the son of Sir James Macdonald, 6th Baronet and the former Janet Macleod. From his mother's first marriage to John Macleod, 2nd of Talisker, he had an elder half-brother, Donald MacLeod, 3rd of Talisker. From his parents' marriage, his siblings included Margaret Macdonald and Janet Macdonald.
His paternal grandparents were Sir Donald Macdonald, 3rd Baronet and Lady Mary Douglas. His maternal grandparents were Alasdair MacLeod, 2nd of Grishornish and Margaret MacQueen.

Career

Upon the death of his father in 1723, he succeeded as the 7th Baronet Macdonald, of Sleat, in the Isle of Skye, Inverness-shire, created in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia in 1625. In 1745, despite being expected to support the Jacobite cause during the rising of that year, he backed the Government, almost the only person in the district to do so. The Jacobite historian Melville Henry Massue assessed that it was the defection of Macdonald and MacLeod of MacLeod that largely contributed the failure of the rebellion.

Personal life

On 3 April 1733, Macdonald married Anne, Lady Ogilvy,, a daughter of David Erskine, Lord Dun. Anne was the widow of James Ogilvy, Lord Ogilvy, the eldest son and heir apparent of David Ogilvy, 3rd Earl of Airlie and Lady Grizel Lyon Before her death on 27 November 1735, they were the parents of:

Donald Macdonald, who died young.

After her death, he married Lady Margaret Montgomerie on 24 April 1739 at St. Paul's Church, Edinburgh. Lady Margaret was a daughter of Alexander Montgomerie, 9th Earl of Eglinton, and Susanna Kennedy. Together, they were the parents of:

Sir James Macdonald, 8th Baronet, an accomplished scholar and mathematician who died unmarried in Rome, Italy.
Alexander Macdonald, 1st Baron Macdonald, who married Elizabeth Diana Bosville, eldest daughter of Godfrey Bosville IV of Gunthwaite, and sister of Col. William Bosville, in 1768.
Archibald Macdonald, 1st Baronet, who served as MP for Hindon and Newcastle-under-Lyme; he married Lady Louisa Leveson-Gower, daughter of Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford, in 1777.

Sir Alexander died unexpectedly on 23 November 1746 at Berneray. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest surviving son, the ten year-old James. His widow lived for more than fifty years until her death on 30 March 1799. After James' death without issue in 1766, the baronetcy passed to his next son, Alexander, who was created Baron Macdonald in the Peerage of Ireland in 1776. His youngest son, who was born after his death, was created a baronet in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom upon his retirement as Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer in 1813.

Descendants

Through his son Alexander, he was posthumously a grandfather of Hon. Diana Macdonald ; Alexander Macdonald, 2nd Baron Macdonald ;. and the Hon. Archibald Macdonald.
Through his youngest son Archibald, he was posthumously a grandfather of Louisa Macdonald; Sir James Macdonald, 2nd Baronet ; and Caroline Diana Macdonald.